What is wrong with me?! (maybe some of us, too!)

[FloridaBoy]

Y'know, I was reading an old mag with contest cars, and many of them were built in a couple of weeks right out of the box. I like many of us do not build out of the box, but end up making modifications to suit our style, taste, and creativity.

But my forner club is hosting a model car contest just 1/2 mile from my home, in just a month, and I am finishing up a couple hopefully in time to enter. But a judged category is gassers, and I looked into my inventory of kits, and decided to build one right out of the box and enter it. These special classes are usually lightly entered since even a three month lead time isn't enough for many modelers. I do not trust NNL type popularity entering, and this is judged, so, I reasoned it would be fun to build one for this category.

I found an old Monogram 55 Chevy Badman kit, which looked like a pretty decent model. Normally when I buy a new kit, I open the box and see if "the wheels start turning" in my brain, to come up with a goal of a decent model, which again, is what I think a lot of you guys out there do. So, this plan was easy. Clean it, paint it and build it, and add only a few details to make it look better.

When I have a kit, with the exception of 36.37,38. 39, and especially the 40 Fords, where I have billions of plans in my warped mind, I ususally come up with one car per kit.

That is where I went wrong. When I started to clean the parting lines, mold indents, marks, cracks, and seams, I decided to

"do this and do that" and it might look cool, I even took on a drag car, a gasser, to discipline myself but it proved to no avail.

So far, I chopped the nose off attached the hood to the front fenders and made hinges for a tilt front end, fabricated a new roll cage, kitswapped seats and steering wheel, changed out the blower assembly, fabricated a new firewall, added gauges to the firewall, and now the putty is drying on the kit for the working tilt front end. If I have the body work done in a couple of days, it will primer out, and I am planning to use Duplicolor Red and Silver because it dries quickly and very hard, and takes clearcoating very well.

But here I sit looking at this model, and only a percentage is kit stock, and I am wondering if I ever will be able to take a kit and build it from the box. Is this a stage of advancement or regression?

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

Edited October 27, 2008 by FloridaBoy

[george 53]

Ken, from the sounds of it, you ain't ever built a kit "out da box" but, thats ok. Are you havin fun an enjoyin it? If that's the case, why stop now? Models are just another flight of fantasy for alot of us. If you like what yer doin, and you ain't tryin ta please no one but yourself, then modify them suckers as best you can! If'n it makes ya happy, then I say BE HAPPY!!!

[old-hermit]

Is this a stage of advancement or regression?

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

OCD maybe ????

[FloridaBoy]

i have built a few "out of the box" like the Tamiya Mini Cooper and the Revell Acura Integra Type R kits. it's hard though when you start thinking about what you can do to make it better or personalize it some. the real challenge is to build it only with what's in the box!

Dave

About 12 years ago, I did build a 1/12 scale Lamborghini Countach almost right from the kit on commission for the owner of the local Lambo dealer. I did make a few mods, but they were very minor just to make the model stronger and parts easier to fit.

Ken 'FloridaBoy" Willaman

[E St. Kruiser50]

Y'know, I was reading an old mag with contest cars, and many of them were built in a couple of weeks right out of the box. I like many of us do not build out of the box, but end up making modifications to suit our style, taste, and creativity.

But my forner club is hosting a model car contest just 1/2 mile from my home, in just a month, and I am finishing up a couple hopefully in time to enter. But a judged category is gassers, and I looked into my inventory of kits, and decided to build one right out of the box and enter it. These special classes are usually lightly entered since even a three month lead time isn't enough for many modelers. I do not trust NNL type popularity entering, and this is judged, so, I reasoned it would be fun to build one for this category.

I found an old Monogram 55 Chevy Badman kit, which looked like a pretty decent model. Normally when I buy a new kit, I open the box and see if "the wheels start turning" in my brain, to come up with a goal of a decent model, which again, is what I think a lot of you guys out there do. So, this plan was easy. Clean it, paint it and build it, and add only a few details to make it look better.

When I have a kit, with the exception of 36.37,38. 39, and especially the 40 Fords, where I have billions of plans in my warped mind, I ususally come up with one car per kit.

That is where I went wrong. When I started to clean the parting lines, mold indents, marks, cracks, and seams, I decided to

"do this and do that" and it might look cool, I even took on a drag car, a gasser, to discipline myself but it proved to no avail.

So far, I chopped the nose off attached the hood to the front fenders and made hinges for a tilt front end, fabricated a new roll cage, kitswapped seats and steering wheel, changed out the blower assembly, fabricated a new firewall, added gauges to the firewall, and now the putty is drying on the kit for the working tilt front end. If I have the body work done in a couple of days, it will primer out, and I am planning to use Duplicolor Red and Silver because it dries quickly and very hard, and takes clearcoating very well.

But here I sit looking at this model, and only a percentage is kit stock, and I am wondering if I ever will be able to take a kit and build it from the box. Is this a stage of advancement or regression?

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

Hey Ken

Ive struggled with the same "Malidies" just like you. Been buildin' for 58 years, and don't think I ever built one out of the box totally stock.

Guess I never saw the point

Got a coupla show car kit's on eBay a few weeks back with the plan to build them like on the cover, but as soon as I opened the box - uh oh - The idea's started flowin' and I knew I was in trouble

[george 53]

Awww. Dave, C'mon, admit it, ANYTIME you open a kit box, IT'S in trouble! YOU build somethin BOX STOCK? Jeeze I guess the voices in my head ARE real after all!

[E St. Kruiser50]

Awww. Dave, C'mon, admit it, ANYTIME you open a kit box, IT'S in trouble! YOU build somethin BOX STOCK? Jeeze I guess the voices in my head ARE real after all!

Jeeez George

I laughed so hard I almost wet myself - oops - Is that considered cusin' Gregg ( Hope I'm not in trouble with ya now )

Edited October 27, 2008 by Treehugger Dave

[FloridaBoy]

It's one thing to talk a good game, but all of you guys have displayed the high quality of your work, so those butterflies within us maybe are productive and not just flyin' around.

My work room is full of partially completed kits in which my plans were basically met, but met some ridiculous obstacle and stayed static until I figured a way to overcome it.

I used up my available space posting photos some time ago, so now, I will create an album to display my work in progress and work completed.

It is so amazing I hit that roadblock a couple of hours ago, and left the putty drying on my 55 Chev Gasser. Now all the mockup and fabrication miraculously got done in just a couple of hours, and tomorrow morning it will be primered, fine sanded and by Wednesday painted. My color plan is Duplicolor Coronado Red, which is a slightly dark pearlized red with flakes in it, with silver top and side panels. I practiced on my foiling, and it goes on with those little wrinkles which to me ruins an otherwise beautiful job. So, I have some chrome bottle paint, which I will thin just a little, and mask off with scotch tape the chrome trim, and by hand paint every detail. I have a 000 paintbrush and hopefully by then a steady hand.

I am debating on using decals, and probably will use just a couple on the silver side panel before clearcoating and polishing. I am also taking white paint and paint 129 A/G on the rear window.

I can't believe that the mechanism I fabricated for the tilt front end ended up first time. What a miracle car. And this is my first drag racer since 1972.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

[HotRodaSaurus]

Well then all, I usually always build straight outa the box. fact is I mainly build slammers/curbsides because I like to display with all the opening parts closed.

I even sometimes leave the engine out hoping to use it in a non, stock kit such as a custom Mercury etc or drag car.

Don't get me wrong, I love to see a well detailed model but cant justify the expense for the specialist aftermarket parts, I'm not a bad modeller and did win my only contest with a slammer but it was a custom(sort of) Revell Futura/Batmobile sometimes I just like to see what I can do with a kit, glue, paint and foil.

One day I might get around to super detailing something, probably my Tamiya Lola T70 or some real heavy customising on a 36 Roadster John

[torinobradley]

Outofthebox??? I think thats a illness, isn't it?

I tried. Really tried... The Platinum Smoothster I just finished was that attempt. In the end, I was able to get away with only adding plug wires and a shifter. Probably due to the time limit I had. Now the way I usually build, does not involve box stock... My last few projects ended up being cut five ways till sunday and had parts from all over, other kits, photo-etch, scratch, resin, some even include parts not part of our hobby. The motor mount bushings for my '34 Ford Roadster Pickup are little o-rings out of disposable butane lighters...

That OCD bug sure hits hard! My latest project was just supposed to be a quick build with a little attitude adjustment cutting but OCD took over and now the front steering works and looks as if it was really bolted together, it has custom headers with all the right bolts, and so on, so forth... Of course, its going to look great, if it ever gets finished...

[FloridaBoy]

I.m on my third day of my 55 Chev Gasser, the former "BadMan" and thoroughly enjoying it. Thank God for watching American Hot Rod, American Chopper, Overhaulin', Unique Whips, and a host of other TV shows, because I have now added a full "mocking up" to my building agenda. I am glad this time, as I finished the prelim mockup, and built the rear suspension, and found that the rear wheel wells are just way too small to accommodate the slicks. When I looked closer at Monogram's badge under the car, it said "Copyright 1963, and back then it used much thinner slicks. So all they did is added thicker slicks which stick out, but you have to re-cut the rear well radii. Again, I was lucky and got it round and symmetrical the first time, and it fit.

It is now completely prefabbed and primered, and drying. Today is a cool dry day in South Florida, so by tomorrow morning the dry weather will have sucked out all of the moisture and it is thoroughly dried. Plus there are no putty marks, sinks, mold marks parting lines, or other imperfections remaining on the primer coat, and all of the home stuff, like the firewall came out OK, and it will be ready for paint, and I will finish the car within in a week. I do not know how much detail I will be adding to the motor, but so far it looks like spark plug wires, fuel lines, accelerator line, battery cables, brake lines and radiator hoses.

I found some gauges to attach to the dash, and prefabbed the roll cage. Wow it came out strong and good looking for a first time effort. No bragging, but I was quite scared of tackling new stuff, like the Enterprise going into space where no man (me) has gone before. nyuk nyuk

When I put it together for a shot, I will put it in my newly forming album on fotki.com and click a link.

Now back to my other contest cars, my "boattail high-boy" 32, my sectioned 40 Ford coupe with gull wing doors, and my sectioned 49 Ford coupe.

The 49 is a benchmark model for me, as I am departing from my old easy recognizable style, no chrome, lots of body work, candy colors, rake, etc. This one I installed a new side molding, painting it two tone, solid lime green and pearl white top and trim, tan interior, a Caddy motor with a single 4bbl carb, and steelies with solid white walls.

Wish me luck, guys.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

[theflame]

Good luck Ken! Cant wait to see some pics!